Man linked to Newry courthouse bombing appeals conviction for IRA membership

Darren Weldon, 46, had pleaded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on 14 October 2014.

He was found guilty by the non-jury court and sentenced on 16 January 2017 to five years imprisonment with the final year suspended.

During the trial, the three-judge court heard evidence that a car bomb exploded outside Newry courthouse in February 2010. Police found a DNA sample on the number plate of the car, recovered from debris, which matched swabs taken from Weldon upon arrest four years later.

Weldon had been arrested before, in September 2012, for suspected IRA membership, after attending the funeral of Alan Ryan, one of six men jailed for taking part in a “Real IRA” training camp in Co Meath in October 1999. Alan Ryan was shot dead in 2012.

The Special Criminal Court relied on a picture message dedicated to Alan Ryan, found on Weldon’s phone, with the caption: “Heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done regardless of the consequences.”

Opening an appeal against conviction yesterday, Weldon’s barrister, Hugh Hartnett SC, said the whole trial was “corrupted” by “stark and significant” misdirections of fact and of law.

Mr Hartnett said there was a difficulty with the DNA evidence. It wasn’t possible to identify the substance found on the number plate – whether it was blood, sweat or tears – or whether it was left by primary, secondary or tertiary contact.

He said the Special Criminal Court “bolstered” the DNA evidence by finding that the sample found on the number plate was left by primary contact “beyond a reasonable doubt” because of the other evidence that existed. That was “absolutely impermissible”, Mr Hartnett said, adding that the court was not entitled to mend a piece of evidence.

Mr Hartnett said the association evidence related to photos found on Weldon’s phone. He said there was evidence Weldon knew Alan Ryan for 14 or 15 years through a gym. Another photo of Alan Ryan described as “mawkishly sentimental” was disregarded by the court.

The Special Criminal Court said it relied on a further photo found on Weldon’s phone that he was in the company of two men who had Special Criminal Court convictions for membership of an unlawful organisation. However, Weldon was not in the photo and the two men who were, including the late Vincent Ryan, Alan’s brother, did not have convictions for membership of an unlawful organisation.

Conceding this point on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Greene SC said the finding that Weldon was in the company of two men with convictions for membership of an unlawful organisation was “unfortunately not correct”.

Turning to the belief evidence, Mr Hartnett said the Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Kirwan “insulated” himself from cross examination by claiming privilege on grounds of State security and ongoing operations. He said there was a “complete and absolute refusal” to give even the most general details.

Mr Hartnett said it appeared as though there was now a technique being used by Chief Superintendents in which they insulate themselves from cross examination on their belief evidence. It was not quite a template but a “standard reply” that “we’re not going to tell you anything,” Mr Hartnett said.

Counsel submitted that you couldn’t add a number of different possibilities together to make a certainty and that the Special Criminal Court seemed to have breached the rule on circumstantial evidence. He submitted that a jury or tribunal of fact, before relying on a piece of circumstantial evidence, must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of each piece of circumstantial evidence before it can add that piece of circumstantial evidence into the mix. He said each individual piece must be looked at and accepted individually.

Mr Greene said the Special Criminal Court regularly records convictions solely on belief evidence together with a failure to answer material questions under section 2 of the Offences Against the State Act.

In this case, there was DNA evidence that associated Weldon with the bomb in Newry and there was the photo of the late Alan Ryan on his phone together with a caption which was at least indicative of sympathy or support for Alan Ryan’s activities. Those were “substantial and unusual” pieces of evidence, Mr Greene said, adding that the court disregarded Weldon’s failure to answer questions because there was already enough to convict him.

Mr Justice Alan Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice John Hedigan, reserved judgment.

Ruaidhrí Giblin, Ireland International News Agency Ltd.